If I was to think of one thing that would sum up what Pensacola Florida is all about it would be naval aviation. On the map as I was paddling in yesterday I counted no less than seven air strips within the city limits that are controlled by the Navy. There was hardly a moment when I didn’t see some sort of military aircraft in the sky practicing maneuvers. On the ground the Navy’s presence is felt by simply seeing military guys all over the place, as well as businesses advertising with Navy inspired designs (commonly an image of the Blue Angels). The fact that it’s a military town is unmistakable.

Seems how Pensacola is a Navy town with almost 100 years of naval aviation history, there was no better place to spend a day off the water than the Naval Aviation Museum. I had the added benefit of being escorted to and through the museum by my host Robert Blackington who is a retired Navy pilot and flight instructor who not only knows much of the history but lived it.

Mr.B next to his plane the Skyraider

Robert had always been interested in flying and actually flew an airplane long before he had his drivers license. He joined the Navy shortly after WWII and entered flight school which is what brought him to Pensacola. It was while he was here that he met a local girl Rosemary who he eventually married and had a family. Robert flew the “Douglas AD Skyraider” during the Korean war as well as a bunch of other aircraft over the course of his carrier. He probably would have flown even more planes but his 6’-3” frame wouldn’t let him fit in the tiny cockpits of some of the planes. His knowledge of the history of aircraft carriers and the planes that had to try to land on them is amazing. There were times when other people in the museum were tagging along with us to hear him tell his vivid stories of flying the planes during wartime and to hear him explain the details of what we were seeing.

A WWI era plane display showing the wooden framework of the wings and body. You can actually touch the display.

The museum itself is enormous and expanding all the time. There must be over a hundred aircraft parked on the ground and suspended from the ceiling. What’s I found as amazing as the number and variety of planes housed in the museum is how accessible everything is. There are no rope or glass barriers separating you from the displays you can walk in around and under the aircraft, tapping on the wings, and touching the propellers as you please which makes the entire experience much more personal. It is an incredible museum, free to the public, that I highly recommend visiting.

Me in the cockpit of a fighter plane

After visiting the museum the Blackingtons invited me out to dinner with a group of their friends with whom they’ve been having dinner once a month for nearly thirty years. It is a group of retired Navy pilots who met while they were all stationed in Memphis. Many of the men in the group had also met and married Pensacola girls. So when their military carriers, spent moving all over the country, ended they all ended up moving back to Pensacola. It was a great dinner and a fun group of people that had as many questions about my trip as I did about their time flying for the Navy.

Glad to see you are getting some more time in towns along the way with good company.

Regarding Naval Aviation, I've been told (but I don't know) that Navy wings are made of gold.

Reply

Neil B

1/21/2010 10:02:49 pm

Andy, well no wonder those naval planes are so darn expensive to build. Being so heavy and expensive you think they'd come up with a cheaper, more lightweight metal for the wings.

Reply

Steven Krause

1/22/2010 12:02:17 am

Jake, if you keep stopping along your route, and getting welcomed and wined and dined (go easy on the wine-you're the designated paddler) , and touring the sights in each city, you'll come back knowing everything about every place and every body on your route. So keep doing what you're doing!

Reply

BC

1/22/2010 04:38:03 am

Hey Jake, looks like the Mississippi is getting a lot of coverage these days: